Typically, a true two phase CCD (charge-coupled device) refers to a device in which there are two physical gates over each pixel, with each gate formed in the silicon under it. In this regard, and referring to FIG. 1, there are two-phase voltage lines V1 and V2. This charge-coupling concept is used in frame transfer and interline transfer CCD image sensing.
As is well known in the art, a CCD 1 includes a plurality of pixels 5 for capturing the incident light and converting it into electronic representation. A horizontal shift register 10 receives the charge passed vertically down from the pixels 5, and the shift register 10 eventually passes them out from the CCD 1 for further processing. When initiating image capture, the CCD 1 should be flushed to eliminate undesirable excess charge accumulated during idle periods. In prior art devices, the vertical clocking of the gates during flushing is such that there is a 50% duty cycle in which each clock spends an equal amount of time, tp, at the high and low gate voltage. In addition, the rising edge of V1 is coincident with the falling edge of V2 and vice versa. This provides the condition in which at no time are Vl and V2 at the low gate voltages at the same time until the end of flushing. For clarity of understanding, the vertical clocks (not shown) operate continuously for passing the charge via the horizontal shift register 10 from the CCD 1.
For thoroughness of understanding and as understood by those skilled in the art, the CCD 1 may then capture an image during its integration time which is subsequently readout during image readout. The clocking for these cycles are not shown in their entirety, as they are well known in the art, and few exemplary times are shown for clarity of understanding.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a prior art CCD 1 illustrating its dark field. As illustrated therein, such prior art devices include a non-uniform dark field 15 such that the outer or peripheral portions have a higher dark field than the central or inner potion.
Although the presently known CCDs are satisfactory, they include drawbacks. Such prior art devices have high power consumption and require a relatively long latency period before a picture can be captured after pressing the image capture button. This is commonly referred to in the art as picture-taking latency. Further, the prior art CCDs produce non-uniform dark fields which will, in turn, create a non-uniform background for which correction is required.